A statewide ballot measure asking voters to legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in Colorado will be center stage Tuesday in Colorado Springs. The City Council plans to consider a resolution opposing Amendment 64 on the November ballot.

“We need to hear from you and know where our city leadership stands on this issue,” Jo McGuire, drug and alcohol compliance manager for a Springs-based drug-testing company, told council members last week in an email requesting the resolution.

In an interview Monday, McGuire said she is one of two El Paso County volunteers for the No on 64 campaign. McGuire called the ballot measure “drastic” and “extreme.”

“It’s an outside interest group that’s bringing it into our state,” she said. “They’re trying to really pass this as a landmark where they can go to other states and do the same thing. They failed in California … and I just think we should not be a state that is the experimental testing site for legalizing marijuana. We also know how it will impact our children.”

But Betty Aldworth, advocacy director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, said the “current policy of marijuana prohibition” has been a waste of taxpayer dollars and “utterly failed” to keep marijuana away from teens.

The council meeting starts at 1 p.m. The meeting is at City Hall, 107 N. Nevada Ave.

“It’s time to take marijuana off the street and put it behind a counter, where it will be harder for young people to get their hands on it, and the profits will benefit legitimate Colorado businesses instead of violent drug cartels and gangs,” Aldworth said in a statement.

The proposed resolution states that Amendment 64 “would harm Colorado’s image as a healthy place to live, work and raise a family” and “would make Colorado the first state to try to profit from legalization of marijuana at the expense of its children.”

Colorado now has legal medical marijuana, which can be prescribed to patients and purchased through licensed dispensaries. Amendment 64 would allow adults 21 years and older to legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana and allows for sales of recreational marijuana in businesses set up like liquor stores.

Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May showed up at Monday’s council meeting and made several suggestions to the proposed resolution, including adding a “whereas” stating that Amendment 64 “allows for worldwide sales of unlimited amounts.”

Council members wrestled with the resolution from a philosophical standpoint Monday.

“With respect to resolutions, and it came up with regard to gay pride and that kind of stuff … I thought we had agreed that we weren’t going to be a platform for resolutions,” Councilman Tim Leigh said.

Council President Pro Tem Jan Martin agreed with Leigh, saying she preferred council avoid involvement in state or federal issues, particularly election issues.

“However, I don’t have strong feelings one way or another” on the proposed resolution opposing Amendment 64, she said.

The council added the resolution to the Tuesday agenda but did so without 24 hours notice as required by Colorado law.

“My concern is (the city doesn’t have) time to notice it 24 hours in advance,” council Administrator Aimee Cox warned. “When we add an item to the agenda, it has to be noticed.”

Wynetta Massey of the City Attorney’s Office told council members that they may have to wait until 
3:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. Tuesday to consider the proposed resolution in order to meet the 24-hour notice requirement.

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Contact Daniel Chacón: 476-1623
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